Have you ever felt like the odd one out? Where the things that distinctively make you you also make you feel quite different from the people around you? I will admit that being transplanted to Australia has often made me feel like the odd one out, but it has also helped me gain a deeper understanding of who I am and allow me to truly appreciate the qualities that make me stand out from my peers.
The first time I explored Sydney by foot I was nervous because it felt like I saw few people who looked like me, but when I did, I was intrigued and excited to the point where it seemed like I was discovering my identity for the first time. Standing over six feet tall, I tower over most people, and as I looked out into the crowd and saw no one like me, I had doubts as to whether I would ever be able to find a community in Sydney to which I truly belonged.
When I started college in Sydney, it felt like most of the of students were younger than me with quite different mindsets. However, despite my discomfort I realized that this could be a learning opportunity as I had mostly spent my life surrounded by people older than myself. Amazingly, once I started to explore outside my immediate community, I made friends who looked like me but who also had completely different life experiences.
